Can you be flexible enough to Full-time or even part-time for 5 or 6 months of the year? If you've been RVing for any length of time, I'm sure that you've had to be, or learn to be flexible with your plans.

Many years ago, when we first started Full-timing, we learned that you'd better allow for a mishap or two, anytime you're traveling or even staying in one place for awhile. Things just happen and there's nothing you can do about it.

If you can't adapt to these mishaps or delays and change your pans, you probably better not plan on RVing too much. Sometimes you can make up the time you lost for repairs or other unforeseen circumstances, but sometimes you just have to make a major plan change.

One of the first years that we were Full-timing, we had an accident in a parking lot South of Orlando. Jim made a hard right turn, the back of the MH swung out and hit a new Jeep Liberty and tore up the Jeeps fender and the plastic bumper on the back of the MH. It was the fist thing like that that had happened, Jim was really upset with himself, and to be honest, I thought our Full-timing days were over!!!

That little deal cost us 2 or 3 weeks of travel and a lot of plans had to be changed. We had to be flexible!

Then, there was time time that we were on our way to Oregon, via the northern route, (US 2). We were in the middle of Montana, (about 20 or 30 miles East of Havre in the middle of nowhere), when the diesel engine just up and quit!!!!

Jim got it going again and we limped into Havre where a CG made space for us and a great mechanic worked on the MH for almost 2 days, but still didn't find the problem. To his credit, he knew he didn't find the problem and he only charged us for a few other minor items he found and repaired.

To make a long story short, we went to many different mechanics, (even a authorized repair shop), but no one could find the problem. Jim finally determined that if he didn't run anything electrical except the engine, the engine would keep running. We visited with Jeff and Heather in Oregon, but then instead of going down the coast and to a bunch of National Parks, we headed back to Florida where a very good mechanic, Lester, found the problem in about 30 minutes and repaired it for about $150.00!!!

A very big change of plans! We had to be flexible!!!!

As most of you know, back in August 2013, while we were in Illinois, Linda was diagnosed with cancer. We scrapped all our plans, headed to Florida and spent the next 11 months down here where Linda had surgery, chemo and radiation treatments. It also marked the end of our 12 1/2 years of Full-timing.

A major change of plans!! We had to be flexible!!!!!

This summer, we were planning on going back out to Oregon again. But, Linda's eye problem required us to change our plans, yet again. It's OK though, we'll head up to Illinois to our favorite Campground and enjoy the summer there. Through the years, we've had a lot of bumps in the road, with that really big bump back in 2013. By comparison, this is just a little pebble in the road.

Another change of plans!! But it's OK, we're flexible!!!!!

Are You????

Did you know that there are 2,734,102 miles of paved public roads in the United Sates, with an additional 1,324,245 miles of unpaved public roads?

1 comment:

One of the best parts of full timing is the fact that you CAN be flexible. We've had to be in certain parts of the country for different things, and if we weren't in a rolling house, it would never happen!

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About Me

Hello, I'm Blaine. I've taken this blog over from Emrys who took it over from Myrddin.
For 12 years, (2001 to 2013), I traveled with Jim and Linda in various Motorhomes, full-time.
Jim and Linda have now purchased a double-wide home in Florida and will continue to travel in a 26 foot Heartland North Trail travel trailer that they tow with a Dodge 2500 quad cab, diesel pickup truck.
I will attempt to keep you up-to-date on their travels and also the time they spend in their home.
Hope you enjoy this Blog.